The number of asylum seekers down by more than one third early this year
A total of 913 persons sought asylum in Finland from January to April this year, which is 39 per cent less than early last year (1,505 in 2010). Thus it looks as though the number of asylum seekers this year will remain lower that of last year overall. Unless the number of asylum seekers starts increasing, the expected number will be approximately 3,000 this year (4,018 in 2010).
Most asylum applications early this year were submitted by Iraqis (181), Somalis (121), Russians (100) and Afghanis (73).
There were 50 unaccompanied minors among the asylum seekers. This is 57 per cent less than from January to April 2010 when 116 underage applicants arrived in Finland.
EU citizens’ asylum applications practically stopped
A notable difference in comparison to early last year is a considerable decrease in the number of asylum applications submitted by EU citizens. Early this year, EU citizens submitted fewer than twenty applications whereas at the same time last year, Bulgaria (198 asylum seekers) and Romania (54 asylum seekers) were among the countries with the ten largest groups of applicants.
The decrease in the number of applications may be due to a pilot project launched by the Finnish Immigration Service and the police in April 2010 designed to make the processing of applications more efficient and to a limitation on reception services for EU citizens – a change which came into effect in July 2010.
In accordance with this limitation, an EU citizen who seeks asylum may not stay in the reception centre longer than the date on which (s)he is informed of a negative decision. With more efficient processing, a negative decision based on the apparent safety of the applicant’s country of origin is made within a few days.
More than one third of those who received a decision were allowed to remain in Finland
From January to April this year, 1,268 persons received a decision on asylum. Thirty-seven per cent of the applicants (464 persons) received a positive decision, that is, were granted asylum or a residence permit for one reason or another. A total of 64 persons were granted asylum. Fifty-six per cent (716 persons) received a negative decision. The share of Dublin decisions[1] in all decisions was 21 per cent.
More detailed statistical report on the Internet
A more detailed report on asylum seeking matters from January to April 2011 can be found in Finnish on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service at www.migri.fi.
Further information for the media:
Esko Repo, Director of the Asylum Unit, tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
[1] In the case of a Dublin decision, the application is not handled in Finland; instead, the applicant is turned back to the country responsible for the case concerned. The principle of the Dublin system followed in the EU countries as well as in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland is that an asylum application is only handled in one contracting state. If an asylum seeker has previously sought asylum in another country participating in the Dublin system, the country concerned is obliged to re-accept the asylum seeker and process his/her application.
14.6.2011
